Recalls of children's and infant products and general consumer products reached a one-and-a-half-year high in the fourth quarter of 2012, according to data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

“The increase in recalls likely reflects increased vigilance on the part of the CPSC,” said John Hale, a Waxahachie personal injury lawyer involved in defective products litigation. “It is much better for problems to be identified before a defective product causes serious injury or even death. Unfortunately, it sometimes takes a tragedy before a product defect is recognized.”

Recalls of recreation and sports products reached a level higher than in the past two-and-a-half years. The category includes items such as snowmobiles, bicycles and trampolines. Consumer products recalled during the fourth quarter of 2012 were the cause of 2,015 incidents related to product safety, 58 consumer injuries and six fatalities.

There was also a rise in food recalls in the fourth quarter of 2012, reaching a two-year quarterly high, as documented by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The rate of food recalls reached an average of six per day during the quarter, with more than 18.4 million units affected. This was more than twice the number in the previous quarter. Ninety-four percent of the recalls were designated as potentially causing serious health consequences or death.

The FDA also documents recalls of medical devices and pharmaceuticals. According to FDA Enforcement Reports for the last quarter of 2012, 40 percent of companies selling medical devices that were named in the report were involved in two or more recalls. For pharmaceutical companies, 45 percent had more than one recall. This was the greatest percentage of companies with two or more violations in the past two and a half years. More than 10 million medical device units were recalled. Both medical devices and pharmaceuticals faced fewer recalls than in the third quarter of 2012.

The information was compiled by the ExpertRECALL Index, which collects data from the FDA and CPSC. The Index is published by Stericycle ExpertRECALL, a recall management firm.